


In the Shadows of Magic

by cairieth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/M, Minister for Magic Hermione Granger, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Post-War, and the age thing is less weird to me at least, noir-ish, severus has changed, snamione
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-03-29 14:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19022230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairieth/pseuds/cairieth
Summary: A murder, a man returned from a lost grave, and the woman at the center of it all.Appearances of manic magic have been constant in the recent months, just as the war-hero Severus Snape returns to London to find that he, and those around him, have changed. The Minister deals with the impending storm on her own as long as she can, until events unfold that are out of anyone's control.Post Second Wizarding War, some people definitely lived because I wanted them to. Murder Mystery? Eh, sort of.





	1. Meeting Notes

It was a general rule of the Order of the Phoenix to never begin a meeting unless all living (and occasionally deceased) members were present in some form or another. Of course, over the last seven years, the Order had unintentionally broken that rule many times over, but there was nothing much to be done about that. It was early spring, and the road outside number 12 Grimmauld Place was lined with the beginnings of flowers and greenery. The dew from the previous evening seemed to have never dried because of the dark rain clouds covering the sky that had not yet burst but looked as though they could any minute. It was at 17:45 on the dot that the first person arrived at the door to the ancient hidden house; Remus Lupin climbed the steps to the front door with a quietness to his tread and knocked with the eagle claw door knocker three times.

The door eagle, a new installation to the outside of the house after suffering several problems with security, was charmed with an invention by Filius Flitwick himself, and could recognize the finger prints of any member of the Order and then ask them the password to be let inside. Each member had a different password, and no one person, except the eagle of course, knew all the passwords, and Flitwick reminded members to update their password quarterly. The eagle shifted at the touch of Lupin’s hand into a phoenix of the same color, and Lupin whispered his password before glancing around as the door swung open to allow him in. He stepped over the threshold and listened for any signs of life in the house, unwrapping his scarf from his neck that covered scars and kept his face warm from the cool wind of the early spring.

This was bound to be a busier meeting, George Weasley had just returned from his tour throughout Europe to promote Weasley products and gain information about the growing presence of Death Eater and anti-peace activities. Mundungus Fletcher, too, had recently returned from his escapades in South America, Remus heard that it was a miracle that he survived at all. Remus himself was working on patching up relations between the lycanthropic community and the wizarding world, and he had several key updates to present to the Order, now run by the ever-stern Minerva McGonagall, portrait of Albus Dumbledore at her side.

Remus placed his scarf on the coatrack near the door, and out of old habits, tiptoed past the now charmed silent portrait of Mrs. Black, the dark curtain covering her breakdown. There was a deep smell of bread baking coming from the kitchen, and Remus knew that Mrs. Weasley was most likely cooking up something marvelous for dinner, he only wished Dora was here to enjoy the meal with him, but she too had been called away to investigate some goings on in Scotland with several other Aurors. Teddy, the couple’s young son, was currently in the care of Fleur Weasley, who, now that she operated a daycare for magical children, took much joy in taking care of the children of the Order while their parents worked to improve the wizarding world, her husband included. There was no one in the dining room yet, so Remus made his way to the first floor sitting room as he always did. There, as always, was Minerva herself, who raised her cup of tea at Remus as he entered and smiled at one of her favorite professors.

“Good evening Remus, you’re the first to arrive, as always.” She poured him a cup of tea and gestured to the armchair across form her. “How’s Teddy doing?”

Remus reached out and grasped the cup from her hands and settled back into the armchair. “He’s well, performing well in school, other than his bouts of metamorphagus, but Dora and I are working on teaching him how to control it better.” Remus grinned. Just yesterday, Teddy had accidentally made his hair grow past his shoulders and turn a very bright pink when one of the girls in his class gave him a flower. Remus relayed this story to Minerva and she chuckled, remembering the days when Tonks went through similar bouts of emotion-based physical changes.

“He’ll be a wonderful student to have, I can already tell.” She shifted back into her chair and looked Remus over for a moment, a small frown appearing on her face. “I must say, I’m glad you are the first to arrive, I wanted to let you know before everyone else.”

Remus turned his head to the side in a rather wolfish manner. “Has something happened?”

“Nothing terrible,” Minerva set her teacup down on the table beside her on top of the several pages of parchment that seemed to be covered in notes and the agenda for this evening’s meeting. “Severus is attending this meeting.”

Remus’s eyes widened ever so slightly, and he sank a little further into his chair. The Order had only known about Severus’s survival a few months ago, when several Romanian mediwizards approached Minerva at the school and brought news of a somehow still thirty-eight-year-old Severus Tobias Snape, living under their care. Apparently, the man had awoken from a self-induced coma-like state only days before the mediwizards came forward and Severus was beginning to show signs of recovery. This news, spread only four months ago, was shared to several members of the Order to ask their opinions on what to do if the man wished to return to Britain. Here they were, four months later, and although most of the Order knew of Severus’s remarkable recovery, they knew nothing of his plans to return. Remus sat in silence for another moment, taking time to process the news of Severus’s unexpected return.

“He didn’t seem that interested in returning to the order, but he needs help reacclimating to society after all these years, so I suggested he return.” Minerva kept her voice calm and watched Remus process his thoughts.

“Will he—” Remus rubbed his knuckles and looked back at his conversational partner. “Will he be wanting his job back? Is that what you’re trying to say?” Remus was reinstalled as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts after the war, and still held the post. It was his second greatest pride and joy after his son, and he felt that finally something was working out in his life.

“No! No!” Minerva reached across and patted Remus on the shoulder. “That’s not why I mentioned it to you, I’m rather sure that the man has no desire to return to Hogwarts. I just know that he needs options, and what better place than the Order to give him options. I just wanted you to be aware of his presence in case there was some disagreement.”

“I—you know our history, right? I’m not sure that Severus would want me, of all people, to stand up for him in a room full of people who didn’t trust him for most of their time knowing the man.” Remus sipped from his tea again.

“We’ll see, your words may not even be necessary, I just want to know I have one person on my side of things.” She picked up her teacup again too. Remus nodded slowly.

“Alright, just give me some signal if you need me to speak up, I’m not sure I’ll have the heart to remember.” The door Remus had entered only a few moments ago opened again to let several more people onto the room, among them Fletcher, several other Weasleys and Hannah Baker, a former student of Remus’s who he had particularly enjoyed having. He said his parting words to Minerva and stood to chat with Hannah about her work and family, and Minerva watched him go, eyes glinting knowingly at his loyal back. She wished, sometimes, that Albus could be in the room just so she had someone to communicate silently with. Nevertheless, she too rose from her seat and picked up her notes, making her way into the dining room and sitting at the head of the table, conversing with Percy Weasley as she went. Soon, others filled the room, faces of the Order new and old.

This would be an interesting meeting indeed.


	2. The Return

When Severus Snape reached the door of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, he wasn’t quite sure how to approach the new entry. The eagle stared down at him rather menacingly, and Severus found he felt rather small even as his dark robes bled out into the night around him. Four months ago, he would not have imagined himself at these steps ever again, but here he stood, puzzled by the new eagle, with a nervous feeling settling deep in the pit of his stomach.

He had nearly taken up the courage to raise his hand and knock when a noise from behind him made him whirl around, hand at his wand holster, to see who was there. On the second step, looking up at him, was an older, shaggier Harry Potter, and at his side stood a smiling and heavily pregnant Ginny Weasley, hand at the elbow of her husband. Harry’s eyes glinted green in the darkening evening light.

“Professor.” It was more of a statement than a question, and though there was some shock in the boy, no, man’s eyes, he smiled up at his former professor anyway.

Severus cleared his throat and removed his hand from his holster, staring down at the boy he once swore to despise.

“Good evening Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley.” He nodded at the both of them, not sure how to respond to the smiles on both of the young people’s faces.

“I suppose it’s Ms. Potter, now,” Ginny’s teeth flashed as she chuckled and gestured to the man beside her. Severus couldn’t help the lump in his throat as he looked down at the couple that reminded him of one he knew long ago.

“Yes. Well, congratulations then.” He managed to choke out, stepping to the side as the two made their way up the steps to the door.

“I’m assuming, you don’t have a password yet, Professor?” Harry turned to him once they stood on the same level, and Severus noted how tall the man had become. “I’ll have Filius set you up with one when we see him, then you can access the Headquarters whenever you need.” He turned back to the door, knocked three times and whispered something into the ear of the eagle and Ginny turned to Severus.

“I didn’t know you’d be returning to the Order so soon, Sir. We had no idea what to expect when we heard of your survival.” Severus looked down at her.

“Do many people know of my return?” He frowned.

“Well, you know how it goes here, once my mum and pop know, so does almost everyone else.” She smiled up at him, and Severus nearly jumped back in surprise at the two adults in beside him as the gestured him inside. These two used to be afraid of him, didn’t they? Had he grown less intimidating looking? Had they forgotten all his horrible attitudes and actions? He moved inside and looked about, pleased to see that the entryway no longer had the frightening number of house-elf heads nailed to the wall. It was almost pleasant inside. He slipped out of his light outer layer and hung it on the rack over a red scarf that looked as though it had seen its fair share of use. Turning back to the couple who had entered behind them, he noticed their gaze and immediately straightened his high collar. The scars that marred his neck were not pretty, and he found that because everyone seemed to look at them, it was easier just to hide them away so that he didn’t have to answer any unnecessary questions. He was lucky enough that he could speak, the vocal cords took some damage in the attack, and that paired with nearly nine years of disuse made his voice scratchier and easily tired.

The two shed their outer layers and made their way into the hallway. Harry turned to look at Severus once more, a concerned look in his eyes.

“Spit it out Mr. Potter.” Severus crossed his arms over his chest, somehow rather less intimidating than in his days as professor, perhaps because the two former students in front of him seemed to be nearly his own age. Harry still had the decency to look vaguely intimidated.

“Uh, well sir, I just wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re…well, alive and well, that is, I think you should prepare yourself for some criticism, but I just wanted to let you know. Well… Ginny and I support you, sir.” He managed to get out, rubbing his scar out of habit.

“Thank you, Mr. Potter, I’ll keep that in mind.” It sounded cold, but was, in reality, genuine. It was a long whole since Severus had been in a room full of fellow British citizens, or any large group of people whatsoever, so any reassurance of support was welcome, even if it was from the former bane of his existence.

Harry and Ginny walked forward, passing Severus in the tight hallway, and Ginny gestured at him to follow them. With a deep inhale, he did just that, already hearing the voices spilling out from behind the dining room door. They passed the empty staircase and Harry moved to open the door, making the chatter several decibels louder. The Order had grown immensely since he had been here last, and as he glanced into the room over the shoulders of the young couple, he saw faces new and old, all gathered around the main table as Molly Weasley stood at the kitchen door, guiding platters of food out with her wand with the help of a house elf that Severus didn’t recognize. At the sight of Harry, Mrs. Weasley looked up from her work and grinned broadly.

“Ginny and Harry, dears, come in come in!” She waved them into the room, pausing only briefly at the sight of Severus. Her skin lightened a little bit and she cleared her throat. “And Severus, you too, of course. Didn't know you’d be joining us so soon.”

“Thank you, Molly,” Severus bowed his head slightly to the older woman. “I didn’t realize I would be back so soon either.”

At the sound of Severus’s gravelly voice Minerva McGonagall, seated at the head of the table just below the beaming portrait of Dumbledore, looked up from her conversation with a very panicked looking Percy Weasley. She gave him a distinct nod, and reached for her glass, raising it ever so slightly towards him. His voice made others turn too, Elphias Doge, the incredibly old man, puffed inquisitively on a pipe, blowing his smoke in the direction of the door. Hestia Jones stopped her conversation with Bill Weasley, and the two looked up from their mashed potatoes. Madeye Moody looked up too, a crease forming between his brows, and his expression caused Ron Weasley to turn completely around in his chair to gawk at his former professor. There were several people he didn’t recognize here too, people who must have joined after the war in order to keep the peace. Quite a few war Ministry robes, and there even seemed to be a few American and other international witches and wizards in the room. Molly made her way around the long table and ushered the three newcomers in, and as soon as Severus stepped across the threshold, he was able to take in the entirety of the room before him.

It was much more magnificent than he remembered, and he supposed that somewhere down the line the Order had become sick of the dark, dank wood and old fireplace, and decided to replace them in favor of taller ceilings, lighter colored walls, and a magical room expansion charm. It was somehow reassuring to be in this place, even with its change, and as Severus sat in a chair between Harry and Mundungus Fletcher, he was reminded of the countless times he sat at this very table when it was smaller and dirtier and had relayed secrets that could have very well gotten him killed. He supposed in the end they had gotten him killed.

There was movement at the door that he just came through and a rustle of clothing as the rest of the Hogwarts professorial group arrived, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood among them. Severus looked up. Surprised to see a tentative smile on the Longbottom boy’s face at his appearance. It seemed that more had changed than what Severus had originally thought.

The banter and chatter continued, most people acknowledging Severus with a nod or glance, seemingly surprised but not opposed to seeing him in their midst once more. Plates were passed down the line and drinks were handed out to those of age, and it was one large family meal, headed by the Order’s legion of matriarchs. He felt both very at home and very out-of-place all at once. The sound of a bell caught his attention at the head of the table as Minerva waved her wand lightly, causing the people surrounding the table to taper off their conversations and turn towards the woman and the portrait behind her. Her severe look melted into a smile as the table looked to her.

“Good evening all,” she began, and then turned to look up at the ceiling, causing several other’s eyes to follow her gaze, including that of Severus.

What he saw caused a gasp to very nearly make itself audible. The enchanted ceiling, much like the one at Hogwarts, was swirling with colors and stars. Instead, however, of imitating the weather outside, it had a world map on it, and within the map were the glowing spots of what seemed to be the locations of order members, as there looked to be a large amount of them in one spot in London.

“Is everyone here tonight that was supposed to be here?” Minerva’s voice floated back into his awed thoughts as she located any points on the map that she found were out of place and then turned back to the small crowd around the long table. Percy Weasley raised a finger.

“Minister says she’ll be here soon, she’ll need to update us on all the happenings at the Ministry this week, which I’m sure you’ve all heard of, so I’m not sure when she’ll arrive.” He looked down at a device in his hand that Severus recognized as a cellular phone and put his hand down.

“Thank you, Mr. Weasley,” Minerva nodded, and Ginny Potter, who had seated herself near the head of the table, began writing down the events of the evening. “That is on our agenda for this evening,” Minerva continued, flicking her wand once again to let small pieces of parchment appear in the places that their plates had disappeared as the meeting began. The agenda was written on them in purple ink in the still familiar neat handwriting of Ginny.

  1. Introduction and Attendance
  2. Swearing In
  3. Meeting Group’s Reports:
  4.   Departments of Magical Law Enforcement & Mysteries Report
  5.   Education Report
  6.   International Alliance Report
  7.   Minister’s Office Report
  8. Other Reports/Announcements
  9. Adjournment



“Anyone else we should know about, other than those on location?” Ginny piped up, looking around the table. No one else raised their hand, and Ginny noted down the attendance otherwise, turning back to Minerva to begin the meeting in earnest.

“Good, let’s begin, then.” Minerva stood and turned to the portrait of Albus behind her. The man within the portrait, hair still white and eyes still a twinkling blue, gestured at the table before him and smiled at each person, as he began to speak.

It had been a long time since Severus had heard the voice of his once master and friend, and he felt his heart constrict in his chest.

“Welcome to you all, new faces and old,” He began. “We must begin this meeting with news, ceremony, and celebration to welcome in new and returning members to our ever-growing Order. If the names I call could please stand at their seat, each of whom have been approved nominations by Minerva, Kingsley, Harry, Ginevra and I.” He nodded at Ginny, who stood to read the names off a short piece of parchment in front of her.

“Professor Millicent Bagnold, Master of Divination, nominated by Neville Longbottom.” The young woman stood and Luna grasped her hand tightly.

“Mr. Severus Snape, Master of Potions, former Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin First Class, nominated by Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter.” Severus looked at the Potter boy and rose from his seat slowly, hearing whispers begin to circulate around the table from those who had not seen him enter the room.

“Ms. Penelope Weasley nee Clearwater, nominated by Percival Weasley.” The woman next to Percy stood and smiled down at her husband gratefully.

“Finally, Mr. Oliver Wood, nominated by Katherine Bell.” The broad chested fellow stood and nodded solemnly at Dumbledore’s portrait. “Are there any who wish to speak against the swearing-in of the nominees present?” Ginny looked up from her parchment, eyes narrowed at the crowd. Without a moment’s hesitation, Madeye’s hand shot into the air. The man himself, who Severus could have sworn had died the night Harry was taken from the Dursley home, had been found living in a cave months after the war had ended, resilient against the weather and loss of his arm. No one knew how that man had survived, but he was welcomed back gladly, and now enjoyed retired life by tormenting members of the Order with his conservative principles and trained many of the newly recruited Aurors.

Ginny sighed. “Mr. Moody?” It was custom for the speaker to thank the appointed meeting leader.

“We’re letting a deatheater into this club, now Albus?” His eyes narrowed, and he looked towards Dumbledore, not acknowledging Ginny nor the man he was against inducting. “Has this become some softie joke at making us forgive our enemies?” Several people around the room nodded in agreement with the one-eyed man.

“Alastor,” Dumbledore began, shaking his head, but before he got any words out, Remus Lupin stood and faced Severus, ignoring Moody altogether.

“I’m glad you’re back, Severus.” He said in his own quiet but powerful way. “We need your help and expertise more than ever, I’m afraid, and although some here may not agree with me, I am grateful that you’ve agreed to return to our ranks.”

Moody was left with his mouth hanging open, and Dumbledore smiled down at the werewolf fondly.

“But he killed you!” Ron burst out, looking at the portrait hanging above Minerva in astonishment. “You can’t just let someone into the Order who’s betrayed us all!” Seamus Finnegan nodded his head next to his red-headed friend.

“Aye, you all remember the dark time we had in seventh year?” He turned to look at the students who graduated with him, many of whom were present at the table. “It was awful.” Justin Finch-Fletchley piped up from the other end of the table as well.

“First we let a Malfoy in, now you’re going to allow another deatheater into our ranks, this is bullshit!” Moody nodded his head and grunted in appreciation of the young men agreeing with him. Severus raised a brow at Dumbledore, who he could have sworn winked in return. Remus turned to those speaking out against Severus.

“Severus was on our side for the entirety of the war, everyone knows that, Rita Skeeter even published the whole damn mess!” Severus blanched at that information. “He was a spy, we can’t judge him by the acts he committed when he was working on our side.”

“He blew off George’s ear!” Ron protested, gesturing at his older brother, who looked up, eyebrows furrowed.

“He could have killed me, though. Had the chance.” George paused for a moment, letting the thought sink in. “And he didn’t take it.” Ron slumped back in his chair.  
Moody grumbled something that Severus assumed was insulting under his breath and faced Remus with a glare.

“This isn’t some pansy club we can open up to just anyone, you of all people should know that.” Remus had the gall to raise a brow at what he assumed were the older man’s suggestions about Peter. The mumbling of small dissent continued and Oliver Wood, also nominated, shifted to his other foot in his standing position, looking uncomfortable that he was in the same inaugural group.

“Why don’t you ask Mr. Snape’s opinion on the matter?” came a voice from the doorway.

Hermione Granger, looking exhausted, had entered the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta-ed, here's chapter 2!


	3. A Matter of Some Importance

Her wand was placed behind her ear, and the ministry robes she wore looked windswept and unkept. Percy Weasley was immediately on his feet, rushing to the woman and taking the stacks of folders and parchment from her hands and she continued to lean on the door.

“Please add my name to the list of sponsors for Mr. Snape.” She stumbled through the door and slid into the chair across from Severus and took off her outer robes, placing them haphazardly on the chair behind her. She was wearing the ministry approved uniform for official meetings, meaning it was no wonder she was exhausted, a meeting with the Wizengamot was always dreadfully draining. She looked at Severus. “Your thoughts on the matter, sir?”

“I am,” he paused looking at the odd arrangement of faces that seemed to support him. “Honored to be even considered as a nominee to the Order, it has been something I would have dedicated my life to, all those years ago.”

“And now?” Hermione responded, halfheartedly, as if she already knew the answer.

“And now, I am beginning to understand that the Order is doing more important than ever, and I would be happy to lend my skills if you would allow me to.” It was as simple as that, not that he had anywhere else to go, really, and not that he had any choice in the matter of coming here in the first place.

“There you have it.” Hermione closed her eyes and lean back. “Any other protests.”

The entire Order seemed to look back to Moody and Ron.

“If ‘mione says...” the younger man mumbled, looking rather ashamed but still wary of his former professor.

Moody looked at the state of the tired woman who had said very little. “If the Minister does not object, then I suppose we must accept him, but I will not be trusting of him, Ms. Granger.”

“That’s Minister Granger, Auror Moody,” Percy piped up from where he returned to his seat. This earned a glare from Moody.

“Well let’s get on with it then.” Hermione waved her hand towards the head of the table and a smirking Minerva.

“All nominees, please raise your wand and repeat after me.” Ginny stated, returning to her duties happily. “I, state your name, solemnly swear to uphold the truths revealed and defined by the Great Wizarding Wars. I promise to protect and uphold the doctrines of the Order of the Phoenix, and to protect the people, both magical and non-magical, who live under the domain of the Queen, and under the ordinance of the Ministry of Magic.” she paused every sentence to allow them to repeat after her, and when she was finished a silver phoenix erupted from the tip of her wand and flew over to each of the nominees, settling on their shoulder and wrapping a feather around their dominant wrist.

And then, as soon as it had begun, it was over, and polite clapping could be heard throughout the room, though a few obstinate members kept their hands still. Minerva took charge again, moving along with the agenda now that the ceremonial business was over. He watched as several people took out quills and parchment to note the recent goings on in each department. Hermione took out a fountain pen, which, to Severus’s odd delight, was filled with what seemed to be a dark green ink.

He had no such supplies to bring out, instead noting down important information in a list in his mind that he would have to transfer to a pensieve later, if there was one he could access. He supposed that he probably wouldn’t have access to the one in the Headmaster’s office at school anymore, and he doubted ever wanting to return there anyway. In fact, he didn’t have access to that much. There was no point in returning to Spinner’s End other than to retrieve several important books, but he couldn’t well imagine himself sleeping there ever again, not after all the poor memories that followed him to that building. He doubted there was anyone left in that end of town anyway, it had been run down when he was last there ten years ago.

“Now that Professor Snape is back,” Severus perked up again at the sound of his name and looked towards the wizard who had uttered it, George Weasley. He nodded at the man to continue. “We had hoped he would come and join us in the Department of Mysteries, we could use his expertise.”

Several other ministry employees nodded their heads in agreement. It seemed that the immense secrecy about the department had decreased following the war, he would have to ask more about that. George looked at Severus expectantly, clearly hoping the older man would agree with his proposition. “I was actually asked to officially invite you, but I didn’t realize you’d be here so soon, so I don’t have the paperwork done yet.” He ducked his head to ignore the glare from his mother.

“Mr. Weasley,” Severus began, scowling only slightly to bring the boy back to his Hogwarts days. To Severus’s annoyance the young man didn’t waver. “While I do require all the proper paperwork to be completed... I would be honored to accept a position in the department.” The boy’s face, man now, lit up considerably, and he grinned at his former professor.

“Thank you, sir, I’ll get that to you then, if we could meet for a moment after the meeting.” He turned back to Minerva, who had a maternal smile on her face. The report continues, and Ms. Lovegood stood next, facing towards Minerva with a rather serious look on her usually soft face.

“Incidents of violence and manic magic have been increasing across Europe--”

“Across Europe?” Hermione interrupted, tapping the cap of her pen on her chin. “I thought it was only happening in the U.K.?”

“South America too,” piped up the short Mundungus at Severus’s right shoulder. “There were several reports from my findings in Argentina.” Minerva and Luna nodded, clearly impressed that he had managed to gather any information whatsoever.

Luna turned to face the concerned minister. “Over the past two days there have been six incidents outside of the UK, in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Paris, and there’s been a murmuring of report sin the Baltic region too.” She turned to scan the table once more. “The Departments of Magical Law Enforcement and Mysteries have begun to reach out to other governments, and we are working on securing more information. For now, as always,” she nodded to Moody. “Stay vigilant.”

She sat and finished the report with a more casual tone, about newcomers to the departments and recent developments in the area of restoring of the prophecy department, still very restricted stuff.

Reports continued, but the looming presence of the recent irregularities in magic hung over Severus’s conscience for the duration of the meeting. He wondered if he had been foolish in believing that all would be well upon his return. Of course, it wouldn’t be simple; there would always be too much at stake to ever live a truly carefree life, and even in his time in Romania he had heard of recent magical happenings of concern from the healers and monks who he stayed with. He looked across the table to the Hermione so different than he remembered and noticed her furiously scribbling down notes at a pace unlike the one of Nathan Crane, who was rambling too slowly on about some agreement made with the Canadian government about owls. He leaned over further in his chair to try and make out her handwriting, but as soon as he came into plausible range, she shut her notebook and stood at the announcement from McGonagall to begin the Ministerial office’s report.

“I apologize for my tardiness this evening, we had some very important negotiations occurring with the managerial company in charge of building the property on empty land near Hogwarts for the university.” She twisted the sleeve of her still buttoned ministry jacket across her wrist. “When I returned to the office to drop off contracts, I found my secretarial staff, Lucy Price and Vincent Monroe, both newly graduated, murdered at their desks.”

The room went cold, and all eyes who had perhaps tuned out the previous several minutes of meeting returned to the minister’s face in shock. She was oddly calm, but Severus notices the twisting persisted.

“I then had to call in an auror team, who thoroughly searched and blocked off the area, while I went to notify the families of the deceased, having arrived here just after visiting the Monroe family in Hull.” She ran her hand through her hair, catching on a few of the free strands and twirling them around her finger. Still, no one responded. “I will make a formal report and statement tomorrow, but this, and the evidence found on the scene along with the recent manic magic reinforce the ever-constant idea that we _must_ stay vigilant. Something is afoot.”

“Hermione I--” Minerva sputtered, and Percy stood to rush to the aid of his stoic boss, who waved him off with the hand not currently occupied with her hair.

“There is nothing more that anyone at this table can do, I simply wished to notify you all of the disturbance so that you can keep your guards up. Once I am sure of any more information regarding the possible suspect and cause, I will send a message through coin and perhaps we can then schedule a more in-depth meeting. That concludes the report of the Minister’s Office.” She sat, making eye contact with only the portrait of Dumbledore, who nodded ever so slightly at her composed features. Clearly there was a general respect for the woman from all those in the room, because no one else made a move to help her, and seemed to trust her judgement on the matter despite its severity. Still there were whispers.

“Anyone else have anything to report?” the portrait folded his hands over his periwinkle robes. Eyeing Fletcher and the twins, who had been rumored to have stories to tell. Fletcher shook his head and dove back into his meal, unwilling to add to the conversation after such a dreadful announcement. George stood again, gesturing limply at the minister.

“Not to add to the terrible news, but other than my department work, the Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes tour uncovered some intel about Death Eater sightings, mainly in… Romania, actually.” He glanced towards Severus.

Moody grunted loudly, and Remus stood to join George. “The lycanthropic community has heard of some sightings in South Wales, too, Romania is not a sole target.”

“So close?” Minerva turned even paler, and Ginny began writing more furious notes.

Remus nodded, and turned towards Severus as well. “I know you’re newly up and running, but do you have any idea what might be happening?”

Severus instinctively pulled at his left sleeve where the Dark Mark still sat, though faded and grey. “The monks mentioned to me that they had tampering with their wards just before I was woken up, but there has been no follow up on that end, I’m afraid that I really know nothing about this.” His eyes narrowed a bit as Moody scoffed again. Remus looked pensive, the quill he had pulled out at the beginning of the meeting resting just below his chin that he tapped with his forefinger.

“I’ll try and keep an ear out if you can too.” His eyes met Severus’s again, and as if giving a peace offering, he inclined his head towards his old rival, the light emphasizing the dark circles and scars that crossed Remus’s face. Severus, hesitating for a moment, nodded back.

“I’ll do what I can.”

This was, perhaps, the most he had ever spoken in a full meeting of the Order, considering not many people had even wished his presence during the war, and it felt odd to be asked directly for his expertise, despite the years he had off. Nevertheless, he could not help the deep sense of achievement he felt in sitting at this table again, a feeling he was not expecting. His heart still twisted with fear and loss, but there was pride there, that had not been there before.

He could have sworn the portrait of the former Headmaster smiling for a brief moment at Remus and Severus before returning to a pensieve look or surveillance over the meeting members.

“With words of caution, now more than ever apparently,” Minerva began, the bright look in her eyes at the beginning of the meeting had turned to a duller hue. “This meeting is adjourned until we meet again on April the second unless any emergency meetings are called. As a reminder, please stay in contact through the coins, and new members, please approach Ginevra for a coin of your own before you leave.” She clapped her hands twice, and people began to stand from their chairs, staying to mingle or heading towards the door, all with a darker aura about them due to the tone of the meeting itself.

Severus stood and made his was over to George Weasley, who shook his hand vigorously and asked for a good time to meet him and discuss a possible Ministry career. They agreed on a time and parted ways, only for Severus to be pulled aside by the Weasley daughter, gold coin in her hand.

“I’m sure you remember confiscating these in Harry’s fifth year, but the coins the DA used were upgraded for Order use too. Most people tie them into their shoelaces or something of the sort, but do with it what you will, just keep it on you in case you need to be notified, it will grow hot to the touch if anything comes through.”

“And to share a message?” Severus looked down at the small gold coin in his hand.

“Protean charm, just remember to link the coins you need to, wither to just one person or the whole Order.”

“Thank you, Ms. Potter,” he slipped the coin into his chest pocket and looked back up at the now slightly frowning face of Ginny Potter.

“Call me Ginny, sir, I’d much rather that.” She had changed immensely over the years he had been gone, and he found that her more blunt fashion of speaking and lack of doe-eyes was much more pleasing to see. Her hair was cut short, so she no longer reminded him of Lily, and there was a spark in her eyes that Severus found powerful instead of annoying now. She was certainly the right woman to have matched with Potter, she at least had the brains for it.

“Ginny it is, if you drop the sir.” He replied, reaching out his hand to shake. She grabbed his hand, grinned the trademark Weasley grin, and shook firmly.

“Glad you’re back, Severus.”

She walked away, and Severus had his back turned when she silently fist bumped the air in victory, earning the respect she had always known she was deserving of.

Severus turned, at this point, to Minerva, his old friend, who was currently in a quiet conversation with the Minister, who had seemingly carved a map out of silver threads from her wand. The two looked up as he approached, and with a flick the map was gone, and a soft smile replaced the grim look on Hermione’s face.

“I’m glad you could join us this evening, sir, despite the dark news.” She reached her hand out first and they shook without breaking eye contact.

“I hope I’m able to help you,” he replied sincerely, and nearly missed the quirked eyebrow at his polite tone. Minerva stepped into the conversation, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Severus, am I to believe that you have no place to stay this evening?”

“You’d be correct,” Severus looked down at his watch and thought for a moment. “I was hoping to see if there were any rooms open at the Leaky Cauldron before beginning a search for somewhere to live tomorrow.”

“No worries, I’ve already called over, they have a room waiting for you, ministry grade.” Hermione stated, also looking down at her watch. “And Percy has been tasked with looking into living arrangements for you ever since Minerva told us you’d be returning, he has several places picked out and I’ve had packets sent up to the room.”

“Prepared for everything, as usual,” Severus ‘s mouth quirked up.

“Well, not everything, it seems,” she said, without breaking eye contact with him. He swallowed. “Minerva, sir, I’ll be leaving you now, there’s some preparation I need to do for the statement tomorrow.” She re-buttoned her sleeves.

“Do get some sleep, Hermione, you’ve had too much stress on you lately.” Minerva, took her hand off Severus’s shoulder and moved it to Hermione’s.

Hermione hummed in response and nodded halfheartedly. “Goodnight to you both.”

She turned away to gather her things and walked out with Percival and his wife, both of whom seemed to be urging the Minister to return home instead of to the office. Severus and Minerva looked on.

“Don’t you dare continue to bully her, Severus,” Minerva took on a much sterner tone, and Severus looked over her shoulder to see Albus chuckling behind his hand. “You’re not much older than she is anymore, and she has earned your respect a thousand times over.” Severus sighed.

“You’re right, as always.”

“Not always, I’m quite sure I’m nearly always wrong about you.” Severus was pulled in for a short hug with the usually stoic Scottish woman, who’s eyes softened around the edges.

“Yes, well… Tell the minister thank you for me.”

“You may see her before I do, she’s often down at the department of Mysteries because of her expertise, you know.”

“Ah, of course,” Severus sighed in response, knowing that she would probably have a well-organized hand in whatever project he wanted to work on. “I think I’ll be off for the night then,” they said their farewells and Severus made his way towards the door, fully intending to have a drink at the Leaky Cauldron before falling into bed to contemplate the news of the evening. He was met by Remus, holding out his cloak to him on the stairs.

“Thank you,” Severus acknowledged as he took the cloak from Remus’s hands. “For all of it.”

“We’ve both been enormous fools anyway, I figured we deserved a new chance.” They both chuckled.

“I’m headed to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink and a room,” Severus began, gauging the man’s reaction. “I don’t suppose you’d like to join me for the first part of that?”

“Not tonight, I’m afraid, but I wouldn’t be opposed to one in the future,” Remus smiled and patted his old schoolyard enemy on the shoulder. “We’ll cheers to new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings.”

They made their way out into the empty London night, turning their separate ways, and Severus made his way closer to having a cold drink in his hand before falling off to a surprisingly peaceful rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and, just for kicks, chapter 3 (also not beta-ed)


	4. Addresses of All Sorts

“…We at the Ministry of Magic give our condolences to the families of the deceased, and I personally would like to remind all of you, wizards and witches alike, to love each other, and to remember to remain cautious but strong. The light will, and must, always conquer the darkness.”

Severus stirred his coffee with a swirl of his finger in midair as he perused the sheets of paper outlined by Percy Weasley in front of him. The Minister’s voice drifted into the room from a radio on the bar, where several patrons gathered around it, drinks in had despite the hour. It wasn’t necessarily early, but Severus had slept later than intended, and so took breakfast at ten instead of his usual seven.

He only half listened to the radio, the Minister’s clear voice pouring out into the bar, and instead sipped at his coffee as his pen scratched on the small notebook on his table. The monks hadn’t use quills, and when Severus had requested something to write with, they gifted him one of their handmade tomes and a fountain pen filled with the natural burgundy ink they crafted themselves. He wrote down three of the twelve addresses given to him by the undersecretary to the Minister, deeming them small enough to live in with enough space for a small personal lab, and decided that before his meeting with George Weasley later in the day that he would go and visit them, at least to get a sense of the neighborhoods. He had not yet returned to Spinner’s End since his reappearance and found that he had little desire to see the place again.

The hushed whispers at the corner of the bar turned to declarations of worry as the Minister ended her speech, and as Severus folded up his papers and tucked his pen back into his sleeve, he glanced over at the huddled group of patrons, all of whom had brows furrowed and drinks in hand.

One of them, a younger man that Severus vaguely recognized as a former student, glanced up at him and, wide eyed, turned to the others. The conversation became hushed again, and Severus hurried out, hand grasping to his left wrist where he Dark Mark had scarred over. He would see the houses today, yes, and push the thought of anything else out of his mind. Today was a day to plan for the future. He jogged up the steps of the Leaky Cauldron to his room, with more energy than he had felt in the last few days and gathered his thoughts before apparating out to his first destination.

***

The first house was too domestic. The first thing to warn Severus of this was a white picket fence that surrounded the building, and thought the interior was suitable, there were too many rooms for one man to use and it felt empty. There was no realtor to deal with in this house, but on his way out he passed a young couple who had eyes on the property. They nearly bowed out of the way of his robes as he opened and closed the gate fence.

Thunderclouds were rolling in from the East, but Severus continued to the next property, one alongside others in a townhouse style, much more similar to what he had expected out of the search. The list Percival gave him was insightful, to say the least, and Severus was surprised to see the detail put into the packet, since he assumed the man had only learned of his return a few days previous. Percival had always been the overachieving student.

The second property had a small fenced off garden in the back, directly abutting another complex, but Severus figured that he could put up protection charms to get a real ingredient garden going with enough work. The third property, he realized as he checked the other off the list in approval, was in Muggle London. He transfigured his robes into a trench coat before making his way to a safe apparition point and walking towards the third spot. Percival had to have been in a right state to put a muggle location on the list, Severus’s mind wandered, that must mean that the young man was at least trusting of his loyalty to the Order.

The third location wasn’t good. The rooms were cobbled together in a mess of some 1960s redesign that seemed to through off the balance of the place, and Severus made his decision easily, only four hours after leaving the Leaky Cauldron. He returned to the bar, phone number of the realtor he needed to contact in hand before noticing George Weasley sitting in the very spot he had occupied earlier that morning. The haze of nervous bar-goers had dwindled, and instead the pub had only a few customers eating what seemed to be a mess of potatoes and greens for lunch.  A woman in thick wool gloves sat at the bar itself, a few feathers caught on her shoulders. This was the early break crowd, soon to return to the streets of Diagon Alley just passed the pub. George waved the man over, beaming.

“Good afternoon Professor!” he wiggled his fingers then grasped at the teacup in front of him. The only person drinking tea in the whole bar. “Can I grab you a cuppa?” George asked, noticing his former professor’s eyes on the teacup.

“Please.” Severus responded, nodding, “You’re early, isn’t there important work to be done at this hour?” Truthfully, he had not expected the redhead to appear until later in the evening, after the Ministry employees usually left their day shifts.

“Ah—” George grinned as he flicked his wand to pour the tea into Severus’s mug. “Well, after our fearless leader’s concerns about the manic magic, everything’s been more hectic than usual, I may have used this meeting as an excuse to sneak out for a bit.”

“Still up to mischief then,” Severus hid his own grin. “Tell me what you need from me.”

“Yes sir” The red head saluted his former professor and reached into the bag near his feet to pull out a folder. “You can look over these while I tell you about everything, yeah?” He flicked his wand again and Severus noticed the patrons of the bar around him grow muffled.

Severus whisked out his pen once more and began shifting through the papers in front of him, most of them related to the liability of working for the Ministry, specifically the Department of Mysteries.

“It’s changed a lot since you’ve been gone, we’re way less secretive than they were before the War, but still,” he waved at the Muffliato cast around them. “It’s never a bad idea to be on the lookout. There’s a lot going on, since the War discoveries and inventions have been through the roof, especially since ‘mione’s introduced some Muggle equipment and ideas. We don’t really split up the department anymore, unless people are working on dangerous artifacts, we mostly work in one big office space, I can give you the tour on your first day.”

Severus leaned back in his chair. “And what would you have me do in the Department?”

“Well, we’ve started a project recently about all the magical happenings you heard about at the meeting last night, and there’s always potions to be worked on. No one really has ‘assignments’ anymore,” he raised his hands in air quotes. “We mostly work on what needs to be done, and if we get stuck we can call over people to have new eyes on the project, bit unorganized sounding, now that I’m saying out loud.”

“As long as the work gets done, I suppose.” George looked up at him, mouth slightly agape. “Oh, what is it?” Severus picked up the pen to begin signing.

“Well, sir, I guess its all rather a shock, isn’t it? If would have thought you would have massively disliked our way of doing things, always seemed like you liked things done one way or no way at all.”

“It’s come to my attention that I know nothing of the way I like to do things, Mr. Weasley--”

“George.”

“Sorry?”

“You can at least call me George if we’re going to be coworkers.”

“Right…” There was an honest look in the boy’s eyes that Severus couldn’t quite place. “George, then. I’ve been guided by twisted ideals and off-putting leaders my entire life, so that is to say I have no idea of the way I like to do things, only realized that at the meeting last night. This will be… good, this will be good for me.”

“Well, I’m apt to agree, sir.”

“Severus.”

“I’m apt to agree, Severus, welcome to the Department.” George reached across the table, and the two men shook hands.

***

The Minister sat, hands rubbing her eyes, in her desk chair with an old-fashioned microphone in front of her that was no longer buzzing with the magical energy that transferred her voice to the Wizarding radio. The patterned knock at the door told her Percy had arrived to collect her for the next meeting, and she sighed into her hands.

“Enter,” she called out, and Percy entered the room with a frown, noticing the several curls out of place.

“You look exhausted.” He paused in the doorway for a moment.

“You certainly know how to compliment a person, Percy.”

“You’ve known me long enough to validate that,” he grinned, though there was still a tense look between his brows. “Go home. We’ll handle it here.”

Hermione hummed and leaned back in her chair, palms over her eyes again. There was so much work to be done, and so little time to do it, as always.

“Alright—yes, I’ll go, but I’m coming back tonight.” She glanced over at her assistants face from under hands.

“You’ll do no such thing, I’m setting up wards before you go, and if you don’t get at least ten hours of restful sleep, I’m calling for impeachment.” The minister chuckled into her hands and raised them above her head.

“I’ll be on my way then, Perce.” She stood and leaned on the desk for a moment to ease the feeling of the blood rushing to her head. Percy stepped forward for a moment and paused as she held herself upright again. “I’ll be in early tomorrow then, do send a message if anything, and I mean anything were to happen.”

“Yes, yes, standard procedure and all.” Percy waved his hand as Hermione gathered her things. “Now then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” With a sincere glance, she apparated out of the office and into her flat; one of the few perks of being the minister was avoiding the daily rush to the floo home. The image of Crookshanks in her entryway purred in response to her sudden appearance and she smiled at him before making her way into the parlor, loosening the buttons at the neck of her shirt, and lying down on the couch in front of her fireplace. Despite the mental barriers of the past week, she fell asleep immediately, so when an ethereal beaver slunk out of her chimney at 3 a.m., she jerked awake, wand at the ready in moments.

“1426 Kelder Lane, Kent. Manic Magic. Come at once.” Percy’s voice exploded forth from the animal and it floated around her ankles, awaiting response.

“Coming…on my way, yes.” She ignored the growling of her stomach and apparated away before the beaver had the chance to return to its sender and appeared in the smoking remnants of a building in the center of a small town.

She barely had time to register the other people at the scene. Harry, of course, was pacing the area, putting up wards with what seemed to be a fully awake Auror team. Severus Snape, a man she had nearly forgotten to have returned, and Percy leaned over what seemed to be the body of a man who’s feet were twitching from the angle Hermione could see. Katie Bell stood on the other end of the property, putting out the magical flames with a newly developed spell from the Department of Mysteries.

“Status.” The minister stepped forward to stand over the two men and the writhing body. Percy and Severus looked up, not eyeing her state of undress.

“Mr. Snape here says he knows this man, former low-level Death Eater who must have escaped us the first time.”

“You’ve run diagnostics?” Hermione turned to Severus, noting that he too looked as if he had been awoken mid-rest.

“Of course, and there’s nothing out of the ordinary.” He responded, standing and running his hand through his newly shorn hair.

“Hasn’t been a difference yet.” Hermione huffed. The man below them began to foam at the mouth. His eyes rolled back and were beginning to turn a pale yellow before the minister spoke again, pushing her sleeves above her elbows. She bent over the body and Percy stood to watch her work.

“ _Dare te in lucem amet infecta redire_ , _dare te in lucem amet infecta redire_ …” She balanced her wand between her fingers and tapped three times on his head, neck, and chest, repeating the self-made spell again and again until, much to Severus and Percy’s surprise, several vines and moss began to rise from the earth and engulf the man’s body, who had stopped writhing as soon as the light of her spell touched his head.

“How will we get any information from him now?” Severus stepped forward growling down at the kneeling woman. She finished the spell before responding, yet to rise from her knees.

“Last time we let one of them finish the process, their body disintegrated leaving only a blackened heart in the hands of one of our Aurors. This way is much more pleasant until we can figure it all out.” She stood, bracing herself on one knee and then the other before looking around again. “That’s why we’re glad you’re back. You say you knew the--“

“Minister, there’s something over here.” Auror Bell’s voice sounded from the Eastern corner of the blown property. She had finished clearing the flames, and instead stood over some of the rubble, her gaze turned toward the minister. Hermione turned and stepped gingerly around the debris, Severus and Percy followed behind, wands still at the ready. “Its…” Katie trailed off for a moment, looking down at the pile before her. “Well, I don’t think he was the only one in the house, Hermione.”

“Shit.”

There was a burnt hand extending out of the rubble at Katie’s feet, and Hermione realized she had experienced the last peaceful sleep she would have for a while.

“Dendron had a wife.” Severus spoke, his voice low compared to the shouts of orders from Harry in the distance. “And two children, when I knew him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta-ed, per the usual
> 
> "dare te in lucem amet infecta redire" was meant to mean "dare to return yourself to us into the light from magic undone," but I don't know Latin so do blame Google Translate for any errors.
> 
> Camp NaNo will hopefully do wonders for this story, we shall see!


	5. Unsolved

It began to rain soon after they left the scene, and it was still early enough that the only light illuminating the faces of the tired crew was that of the lightning that flashed on and off with no particular pattern. Hermione felt vaguely dizzy. They were in her office when she felt like speaking again.

“I’m sure he wasn’t a good man, but I can’t fault anyone for death.”

“How very liberal of you, Minister.” Severus nearly spat, sprawling himself in one of the chairs in front of her desk while the others settled in across the room. Harry stood by the window, hands in his pockets, and Katie leaned against the table in the corner of the room while Percy took Hermione’s jacket, wrinkled from having been slept in.

Hermione grimaced. “I suppose even a war can’t help my weaknesses.” She opened a drawer from behind her desk. “Can I offer anyone a drink?” Katie and Severus nodded their agreement and Hermione poured the amber liquid into three conjured glasses.

“We need to understand whatever is bloody happening.” Harry turned from the window, a flash illuminating his back and the shadows that covered his face made the whitened scar on his forehead seem more prominent than ever. Severus looked up at the boy over the rim of his glass.

“Seems like Minerva wanted me back in this damn country for a reason.” He grunted pulling his legs in from their sprawling position and sitting upright before tapping the glass down on the side of the minister’s desk.

“I figured you would have understood that much sooner,” Hermione scoffed, meeting her former professor’s glare with a solemn smile.

“Give me the facts then.” Severus took a long swig of the amber liquor. Katie Bell stepped around the sofa and leaned against it, also cradling a glass in her hands.

“There have been sixteen occurrences so far, including this evening. The first three were far enough apart that we didn’t realize a pattern until Lucius Malfoy, who you’re well acquainted with—” she paused at Severus’s bark of sardonic laughter.

“I was indeed.”

“Yes…well,” she paused, glancing at Harry and Hermione and continuing. “Until Mr. Malfoy became deathly ill. The Manor burned and the only remnant of him was his wand. Draco was there at the time, and when he described the event to us, we realized the connection right away.” She shifted her weight back onto her feet again. “All dark wizards, marked or unmarked by Voldemort.” She didn’t stutter over the name.

“So why has this not happened to me?” Severus responded, brow raised.

“We’ve no idea, but when Minerva notified us of your return to the living world, she suggested that if you were to return you could help us figure it out.” Hermione rested her elbows on the back of her chair.

“She thought I would need to be occupied.” Severus scoffed.

“And was she right?” Harry spoke up once more, looking intensely at his former professor.

“Gods yes.” Severus sighed into his drink. “I need to get to doing something soon, all the domesticity earlier today had me ready to tear my own eyes out.”

“I take it you found a house then?” Hermione grinned at Percy, who looked only vaguely disturbed by the quick change of topic to a more lighthearted subject in the wake of the events of the early morning.

“Yes, it will do for now, thank you for the list Mr. Weasley, it was most informative.”

“I—you’re welcome, sir.” Percy paused and scanned the room. “The minister and I will get working on the report for this morning.”

“Yes, yes,” Hermione waved her hand idly at her deputy minister. “You all return, and thank you for your help, we’ll notify you about your official statements sometime after dawn.”

“You seem remarkably unfazed by this minister.” The tip of Severus’s mouth moved into an almost smile before flattening again.

“Well, if we don’t get to work, I’m sure we’ll be seeing it again very soon. The manic magic doesn’t seem to run on timetables, so it’s better to keep a level head about these sorts of wild things, isn’t it?” Hermione didn’t look up to meet his eyes this time, instead staring into the swirling liquid in her glass. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She dismissed them without a word more, and as the four others left the room, two of them setting empty glasses on her desk, they heard her sink into her chair before the door closed behind them.

There was no more conversation that early morning, but before Bell left, Severus spoke up.

“Department of Mysteries in the same place?”

Katie turned to look back at him, and really for the first time, took in his face. They had both been woken in the wee hours of the morning to investigate the strange happenings, and his hair, swept out of his eyes now by a dark red ribbon, reflected a night spend tossing and turning and running his fingers through it. She wondered if the smudges under her eyes were as deep as those that seemed to mar his face.

“Same as it’s always been.” She nodded and turned on her heel, raising one hand in a brief wave. “See you, sir.” He could only hear her grin, and before taking a moment to consider what she was so pleased about, he turned in the opposite direction to head towards the lifts.

***

The minister awoke several hours later, face pressed to dried green ink on the form that sat on her desk. The sun was out now, she assumed, but it was difficult to see through the dark clouds that still patterned the sky. She whisked her wand through the air and the empty glassed on her desk disappeared instantly. After sending a memo to Percy about the follow up reports she stood and tapped her wand twice on the painting behind the minister’s desk. The image of rolling hills disappeared and unfurled to reveal a grand looking map quite similar to the one owned by her best friend in their days at Hogwarts.

After her installment as minister, Hermione hired Remus and George to make her a prototype map of the Ministry based off the Marauder’s Map. She checked it only when she wanted to find someone, and once she successfully located her target on the map, she tapped it three times and headed out of her office, careful to have the door glimmer shut into the wall behind her. It was early enough in the morning that Ministry workers were just starting to populate the halls of the building, and the minister’s boots tapped louder than usual on the tile floors of the quiet Atrium.

The brass lifts that would soon be teeming with employees were relatively quiet, and one of the doormen present nodded officially at the minister before allowing her to enter her own lift. She pressed the button for basement level nine and held herself upright as the lift shifted violently downwards. Looking down at the cuffs of her shirt which were pushed up to her elbows she realized she hadn’t changed in more than 24 hours, and Episky-ed herself before stepping out of the lift to the ninth level basement where, at the end of a long hallway, stood the doorway she was aiming for. Her shoes echoed in the empty hallway, and as she reached down to grab at the knob to the Department of Mysteries, it glowed golden for a moment before allowing her to turn the handle and push the door open.

Though there were few people awake in the rest of the Ministry, the Department of Mysteries always seemed to be abuzz with activity. Only five members of the department were present, four of them in official robes, and the fifth stood in the corner of the high-ceilinged room at a desk, small spectacles perched on what she once considered to be an overly large, hooked nose. The minister stepped down the iron framed stairway leading to the main floor of the department, and hardly a member looked up before returning to their work. It was typical for the minister to visit the level, she had always fancied a job here before being pushed towards the leadership position she now held, and she contributed previously to several new discoveries published in recent years, not that she had the time.

She reached the desk that Severus occupied and sat down across from him, glancing over the books he had both stacked and open. He held a pen in his right hand currently and a tome in his left while he balanced a notepad of parchment oh his knee and the table, scribbling something furiously. He finished his sentence before looking up over his glasses, and Hermione felt a flash of something familiar from that look, but from long ago and from a man who held much more wisdom and power in his age.

“Minnow.” She called, before greeting the sallow man in front of her. There was a pop to the tables side and a small house elf appeared, grinning up at the minister.

“Yes, miss? What can Minnow do for the miss?”

“Two cups of tea with the pot and a spot of breakfast if you please.” Hermione looked over at the small elf and smiled softly.

“Yes miss.” She popped away and nearly a second later reappeared with a full tray of biscuits, fruit, and breakfast sausages before popping out and in again with another tray with two teacups and an old silver pot of tea. “Is there anything else Minnow can do for the miss?”

“No thank you, Minnow, you’re dismissed.” The little house elf disappeared again, and Hermione reached forward to begin pouring the tea. Minnow knew by now that the minister made a pint to pour the tea for all her guests, and never let Minnow prepare a cuppa in advance.

“Milk and sugar?” She asked after pouring two cups.

“Just black please, thank you.” The man across from her responded.

She chuckled as she handed the teacup over and he set his parchment and pen down. “Typical.”

“What brings you down here, minister,” Severus said, glancing down at his cup and then back up at the frazzled looking woman. She reached out for one of the books lying open on the tables and brought it closer to her.

“Well I’ve just had a lovely nap and I decided to pop in and visit, of course.” She flipped through the pages more idly than he had ever seen her with a book. “I feel sometimes that the minister is utterly worthless and that my time is best spent helping to discover real answers or helping fight real monsters.” He hummed in response to her musings.

“So, you’ve come to pester me, then.” She looked up at him and scowled briefly but then, seeing the glint in his eyes, responded.

“Help, pester, they’re all the same in vein,” she flipped back to the original page. “I’ve never known you to be a jokester, though, it’s a good look on you.”

“I’ve decided to thoroughly rework my attitude in the wake of my recent resurrection.”

“Oh really?” She lifted her eyebrows to the man, who was still off-putting in his thinly framed glasses.

“Absolutely not, I’ve merely decided to try being less acerbic constantly, and let me tell you, in these past few months its done wonders for my blood sugar.” He had the audacity to look completely serious and take a very long sip out of his teacup before nearly jumping at the minister’s sudden outbreak of laughter. One of the other employees, Lystus, glanced up at the sound, scanned between the two, and looked back down at his work that seemed to have to do with some sort of dissection.

“You’re quite funny, you know, good timing.” Hermione’s chuckles slowed and she stood again. “What can I do to help you so that we can both get some sleep at some point this week?” She rummaged through a few of the other books before turning back to face him as if she hadn’t just been nearly crying with laughter. Severus noticed how wrinkled her shirt was and, judging by the laughter moments ago, she hadn't had much sleep in the recent days.

“I need access to some libraries that you’re most likely allowed in and I’m not.” She nodded at his request.

“And?”

“Another set of eyes would do me good,” he gestured towards the notes he had made so far in a maroon colored ink.” She nodded again and grabbed for a strawberry, nose scrunched at its sour taste.

“Not ripe yet, tell me what you have.” She stretched and sat back down, nestling her cup of tea at her chest.

***

He didn’t have much. He wasn’t expecting to have loads of information after only five hours of research, but there was still a faint hope in the back of his mind that he could have had more done. He began, all those hours ago, in the history books, specifically the ones he could find on dark magic. The department had a small collection of books, smaller than he had imagined, and he wondered if he could get access to the library at Hogwarts, or better yet, the library at the Order of the Phoenix. The house of Black was known to own some of the rarest books on dark magic, and Dumbledore himself had apparently left his collection to the Order. Severus carried on anyway.

He imagined that whatever this specter was, it was something like a horcrux, though he wasn’t sure how, so he focused his research on any similar appearances of symptoms before he could fain access to the books he really wanted to read.

“What do you know of horcruxes?” He asked Hermione after she had read over his notes and the two had developed a comfortable silence while reading.

“Quite a bit, I spent my entire seventh year chasing after some, after all.” She looked up from her page in Death by Dark Magic, a Dramatic History of Darker Spells.

“I’d forgotten about that,” Severus mused, tapping his pen on the side of his book.

“I hadn’t,” Hermione grimaced. “I’ll never set foot in a tent again, but from what I remember, a horcrux is when a part of a wizard’s soul is attached to an item after committing murder in the pursuance of immortality.”

“You’d be correct in that memory, straight out of the textbook, as always” Severus replied, eyeing the bookworm. In class she would recite textbook pages until it made him mad, but there was a shallowness to her tone now. “I can’t help but feel that the two of these things are somehow related.”

“Dark marks, dark wizards, dark souls,” Hermione mumbled, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. “It would make sense, yes.”

The door to the department burst open and Percy rushed down the stairs, grasping at a stack of parchment in his hands. There were several other workers in the room at this point, all of whom looked up at his loud arrival. Hermione glanced a one of the several clocks that lined the wall on in the time section; nearly two hours had passed since they began researching together.

“Percival!” Hermione turned to look at him, hallway out of her seat at the look of panic on his face.

“Hermione, something terrible has happened.” She stood and he made his way to the table and dumping the parchment in his arms on top of the books. A drawing of the minister with wicked looking eyes and a headline that read “When will the madness stop? We’re looking for answers.” Covered the paper which had a hole in the top, presumably from being nailed to a wall or post. Hermione raised an eyebrow and picked up one of the other pieces with a different but similar headline.

“The panic has set in, then?” She tossed the paper down and sat back into her chair again, picking up the now cold teacup. She tapped the rim with her finger, and it began to steam faintly again.

“There are people in the Atrium now, shouting about wanting answers, mostly purebloods and neutral parties from the war.” Percy gathered the papers into a stacked pile again, grabbing one out of Severus’s hand.

“I’ll wait a while to go back to my office, then, until everything has died down.” Hermione stated, setting the cup down and picking the book back up. Percy looked down at her, frowning. She sighed. “If we don’t find answers, there is nothing we can tell them, and I’d much rather tell the truth then lie and say that all will be well.”

“You’re a piss poor politician, you know,” Percy huffed, though he didn’t seem to hold any anger in his stance.

“Supposedly that’s why I’m here,” She mumbled and flipped through the next few pages. “I’ll make a formal statement this evening, I’ve already prepared it, but other than that we must let their anger run its course.”

Severus watched their interaction unfold with some interest. To think that, even still, people were so against the Ministry’s decisions with a war hero in charge diminished his ideas of a new world a bit. Of course, nothing would ever completely change from the hardened ways of the past, even a Muggleborn woman in the highest governmental position in the British Wizarding world couldn’t change that, though there had been some headway, that was evident from her current position.

Percy nodded reluctantly and made his way back up the stairs, papers in hand, no doubt preparing himself for the onslaught of people awaiting his return to the Atrium.

“Nationwide troubles, then?” Severus smirked over his book.

“They never cease to exist,” Hemione rubbed her eyes with one hand and grasped the book in the other. “I should go and deal with them.” She shut the book and stood, taking one last sip of her tea and turning to leave. “Tomorrow evening meet me at Headquarters, I can give you access to the books there and we’ll continue the search, say 7?”

Severus glanced at the book in front of him, which hadn’t led him anywhere after a half an hour of searching. “I’ll see you then, madame minister.” Hermione rolled her eyes and held a hand up in a short wave before turning to leave, gathering herself and pulling at her collar before exiting the Department of Mysteries and making her way to the Atrium instead of apparating directly to her office as she normally would. The masses needed to be dealt with, and deal with them she would.


	6. A Relationship is Formed

When Hermione arrived at the Headquarters the next day, it was after a meager four hours of sleep and several newspaper interviews. In fact, her face was plastered on the front page of the Daily Prophet, alongside Harry’s of course. The two stood back to back in one of their older pictures together when they had both recently gained power in the Ministry, and the article was overall positive, which was surprising given the mass of people demanding answers the afternoon previous. She entered the kitchen first to find Severus at the table, a copy of the very newspaper in his hand, though he was flipped to one of the later pages, so the image of her and Harry swayed into her vision.

“Evening.” She greeted him, and he folded the paper back to look at her in the threshold.

“Have you slept since I last saw you?” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Nearly four hours, thank you very much, I’m feeling well-rested.” She lied through her teeth, and the older man had the gall to roll his eyes back at her. “Let’s begin then, yes?” She gestured towards the stairs and he stood to follow her up several flights to the library.

Modified after the war, the once dust library now opened into what would be a bright and larger space in the daytime, though it was now filled with the soft glow of electric light and candles. The room had been expanded to hold the vast number of books in Dumbledore’s collection and the several other new collections the Order received in the wake of the war. Severus looked around in awe. The style of the room reminded him of the great library at the monastery in Romania where he stayed for several months to recover from his awakening. He followed Hermione to a central part of the library that was guarded by a hazy curtain of magic visible even to the unsuspecting eye.

She waved her want in a strange pattern in silence, and there was a shift in the magical energies as the barrier seemed to recognize her presence. She led him through, and he felt a tingle at the back of his neck, the magic accepting him through as well. Entering through the barrier was a bit like entering Diagon Alley for the first time, but instead of the hustle and bustle of streets, there was whizzing and whirring of magical artifacts and times, all gathered in an array along the walls that remained him of the Headmaster’s office when Dumbledore was still alive. Speaking of Dumbledore, the man himself had a portrait hanging above the fireplace in the room, though it was empty at the moment. Severus recognized the former headmaster’s signature teacup sitting on the edge of the frame.

It was a hexagonal room, fireplace on one wall and several rows of books on the others, with a second floor rising high above them. Trinkets and curiosities filled the spaces that books did not, and a table sat in the center of the room with the same map features in the dining hall covering a globe, the little golden spots representing people along a midnight blue earth. Hermione sat down at one side of the table and gestured to the seat across from her, just like they had sat in the Department of Mysteries what seemed like weeks earlier but was in reality only a few hour ago.

“We’re looking for books on horcruxes, so soul magic,” She pondered out loud, glancing around at the shelves. With a flick of her wrist she summoned the books she could think of and they flew off the shelves landing in two neat piles on wither side of the table across from each of them. “And perhaps spell remnants as well, like Harry’s scar?” Severus nodded.

“That sounds right, next time it happened I’d like to take a blood sample, so maybe blood magic as well?”

Hermione, with several swished and flicks of her wand, increased the piles tremendously.

“We won’t finish tonight, of course, but you also have access to this space now so we can continue to look.” She paused, opening the first book. “Though I’m not really sure how much information we’ll get out of speculative books. We may need to just wait for another occurrence and figure out how to stabilize the victim on time.”

“The brightest witch of her age believes we can’t find answers from books? We’re doomed.” Severus looked up to see the minister scowling at him, though there was a faint twinkle in her eyes. They looked down at their separate books and the search began. After a while of only the sounds of pens scratching and the general sound of the trinkets in the room, Severus piped up again. “If we could figure out a way to put a stasis charm on a person, like one does on potions, perhaps we could get some more information.” Hermione pondered his statement for a moment.

“I assume you have significant experience with the stasis charm, perhaps we can modify it with a stupefy to hold them in an unmoving state so we can make observations.”

“And the ethics of this?” Severus asked.

“You’re beginning to care abut ethics at a time like this?” Hermione paused when he didn’t immediately answer her. “Yes, I suppose we shall have to ask consent? But if they’re already going to die?” She set her pen down and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“We’ll figure it out when the time comes, no use dwelling on it until we find answers.” Severus waved his hand idly in the air, as if the thought of dealing with the ethics when the time came wouldn’t keep him up at night.

They made little progress over the next few hours, discussing the possibilities of soul magic and a combination spell. Hermione rolled her sleeves up and Severus forewent his robes, so both stood casually, sometimes pacing back and forth throughout the room to find some sort of inspiration. They rolled out parchment on the surface of the table and began a series of mind maps to organize their thoughts.

“Have you eaten dinner?” Hermione piped up nearly three hours into their session. Severus looked down at his watch.

“Nearly five hours ago now, but I could eat.” He replied

“Brilliant, there’s an Indian restaurant down the block that’s open until three, and I find myself in need of something so spicy it will make me cry.” Hermione stood and brushed imaginary dust off the front of her pants. “Shall we?”

Severus looked down at the open tomes and paper sin front of them, reminded of their failure to find anything useful the day before. He sighed and put his book back on the table, standing once more and stretching out his knees which had grown stiff from sitting in one place for so long.

“We shall.”

It was late enough at night that there were few people on the streets to pass the unlikely duo on their way to the restaurant after they had transfigured their clothes appropriately. They walked in silence, instead enjoying the quiet of the late-night air, and Severus noticed that the woman beside him matched his steps nearly stride for stride, a far cry from the young student he once taught and the dark professor he once was. After rounding a corner the two stood in front of a well-lit shop with an old sign hanging over the door that read “Sahil Restaurant: Fine Indian Cuisine,” and Hermione opened the front door to the jingling of small bells over the threshold. An older woman waved them to any spot they wanted and brought over menus before the two were left alone for a moment to decide on their meals.

“I haven’t had Indian food in years.” Severus mused, and Hermione looked curiously at him over her menu.

“I always took you as the kind of man who ate strictly bland, British food.” He chuckled darkly in response to her comment.

“I suppose that would be an apt assumption based on my general personality for the time you’ve known me,” he paused, and seemed to contemplate his next sentence carefully. “My mother was Indian, from Kashmir.” Hermione’s eyes widened ever so slightly.

“I had no idea.”

“Yes well, my father never would have been one to advertise it anyway, fool and racist that he was.” His voice was bitter as he looked back down at the menu, avoiding the gaze of the woman across from him.

“Have you ever been?” She asked, setting down her menu. She’d been here so many times in the past several years that the owners already knew her order anyway.

“Been where?” Severus mumbled, also setting his menu down.

“Kashmir?”

“Ah- no, never had the chance with wars, self-hatred, and my untimely death to deal with.” He shrunk back into the booth slightly.

“I’ve learned more about you in the past week than I’ve known about you my entire life.” Hermione mused, not pressing farther on questions in his past. It surprised him.

“Did Potter not share my memories with the world after my death?” Severus crossed his arms over his chest and the woman who seated them came back to take their orders before whisking away the menus and leaving the two in solitude again.

“He refused to.” Hermione responded to Severus’s previous question. “Kept them to himself because he respected you, and still his word managed to get you cleared of any crimes that may have been put against you.” This time she crossed her arms as he uncrossed his, mouth agape.

“So, no one has seen them, then?”

“Not that I know of,” Hermione shrugged. Severus eyed her posture.

“And do you think I should have been charged for my crimes?” He pressed.

“Some of them, probably. But I suppose if you were tried then most of us would have to be. We’ve all done a lot for the sake of the good.”

“You’ve killed?” There was an odd look on the man’s face, nearly twisted into a sneer that would have normally frightened any weaker person than she.

“Of course,” she met his eyes. “And maimed and destroyed livelihoods. I am not all innocence anymore.”

He was the first to look away.

“Then we are equals.” He nearly whispered.

“That we are.” She responded, she smiled softly despite the tension that hung in the booth around them. They sat in silence for a while contemplating each other’s company. “It’s odd to think that I am sitting in a restaurant with you as friends.”

“Friends, minister?”

“Well yes, if we aren’t friends yet, Severus, we are sure to be soon with all that’s going on around us. Life is to short to have only comrades in arms, you know.” He shivered only slightly at her casual use of his first name.

“Then, Hermione,” he responded almost gleefully, “I’m happy to sit here as friends with you.” Hermione scoffed as food was brought to their table and thanked the server before beginning to eat. The faux neon open sign blinked on and off outside the shop. They spoke of oddly domestic things over their meals, Ginny’s pregnancy, the state of Hogwarts, and the spiciness of the food (Hermione did indeed tear up slightly at in the middle of her veg kolhapuri). There was soft traditional music playing in the background, and the two could hear the clatter of plates in the kitchen as a few of the other tables were seated with late night eaters.

Severus spooned another bite into his mouth when he glanced at one of the booths across from the pair and made eye contact with one of the diners at the table, who looked away quickly as though he had been burned. Severus shifted his eyes back to Hermione’s slowly; she saw his face drop and looked at him expectantly.

“12 o’clock, Garrett Rubis, former ally of the Dark Lord, unmarked but still dangerous.” Severus conveyed under his breath. Hermione reached down for her fork and pulled the end of her wand just out of her sleeve.

“Stand and walk towards the back casually.” Hermione muttered, and leaned back to wipe imaginary crumbs off her face with her napkin. Severus smiled at her and she nearly faltered at the genuine look on his face before he slid out of the booth, laying down Muggle money for the bill and offering her his arm. She slid out of her seat and took his arm, and as if they did this every day, Severus looked down the hallway that led to the kitchen.

“Let’s go say hello to Prachi,” He said, his tone light and conversational. Hermione smiled back at him and agreed quietly. They began to make their way to the back when a man, who Hermione assumed was Rubis, stood abruptly out of his booth and faced the pair. Hermione saw him out of the corner of her eye and barely had the time to take a breath before the stranger pulled his wand and pointed at them before chaos broke out.


	7. Deep in the River

Quick as she was able, Hermione pulled Severus towards the small hallway as a flash of light burst out from behind them. The edge of her coat caught on fire, and she ripped it from her back, dropped it to the ground, and began stepping on it furiously before pulling her wand out of her sleeve.

Other patrons to the restaurant screamed and she heard a crashing of glass from behind her. There was a moment of silence before the hairs stood up on the back of her neck and she pushed Severus, who looked utterly focused on his face, up against the back wall before the other side of the hallway came crumbling down behind them, covering the pair in plaster.

There was scrambling within the kitchen as the two cooks present this late in the evening dove under their metal work benches to avoid the explosions and flashes of light. Severus opened his eyes briefly only to be met with the minister’s jawbone as she pressed him against the wall but turned back out towards their attacker, still clutching the sleeves of his coat and her wand and squinting through the dust. His hands felt numb from the impact of the wall against his elbows, and though he could see the look of grave confidence in Hermione’s eyes, he was still unsure of her plan, and that alone made him nervous. He couldn’t ell what their attacker was doing, but he seemed to be letting out a lot more magical energy than normally expressed by sane wizards.

Hermione swung about, wand aloft, and cleared the air with a sharp movement. In one hand, he noticed, she seemed to break a small ball of glass that emitted a puff of blue smoke before disappearing and letting the blood she spilled trickle off her finger tips. In the other hand she held her wand, pointed straight at Rubis. He pulled his wand at the holster in his side and turned his attention to their mutual enemy, whose eyes ablaze seemed tinged a faint shade of yellow.

Hermione emitted no sound as she cast stupefy on their foe, who deftly shielded the minister’s charm. She charged out of the rubble, spells flying, and Rubis blocked every single one. It took Severus a moment to realize the inconsistency. Though the minister’s movements were sharp and precise, Rubis stared only at him, his eyes flickering from Severus’s eyes to his left arm where Rubis knew the mark lay. He fell to his knees as one of Hermione’s curses hit him and then screamed.

“TRAITOR, TRAITOR,” Severus attempted to cast a silencio charm to no avail. The man’s voice became quieter and lower, but he continued, eyes shifting manically back and forth between Severus and Hermione. “Those who sought the curse would never turn, you have defended the wrong until this moment and you will do so until your dying breath you have betrayed our cause all ire shall be wrought upon you traitor traitor traitor traitor—”

Severus took a step forward after his second charm failed. Rubis chanted without pause of inflection, and Severus brought a bottle down upon the kneeling man’s head with a smash before Rubis fell to the ground unconscious in front of him.

The dust seemed to fall, and Severus noticed his own heavy breathing mixed with that of Hermione’s were the only sounds that filled the now empty restaurant other than the faint chime of the bells over the door that were blowing in the wind after the door was blown off its hinges. Before he had a chance to catch his breath, he summoned ropes to tie themselves around the man’s wrists. Hermione seemed to realize the fight was over and rushed to kneel and help him.

“His partner, there was someone with him,” she blurted, standing and pacing around, peering out the window, wand still drawn in defensive style. Severus stood as well.

“There’s nothing we can do about it now except fix what is directly in our hands.” He glanced down at the hand he saw clutching the small orb before and took a step towards her. “Your hand—”

“Ah yes,” she raised it to face level and looked at the small but deep wound on her palm. “Can you…heal? I don’t think I’m in the right state to—” He took another step towards her and grabbed her injured hand out of the air, examining it quickly before casting a healing spell and placing her arm softly back at her side. When he looked back to her face her eyes were directed at the unconscious body on the floor beside them.

“Aurors will be here soon.” Hermione shivered and backed up to sit in one of the unturned booths. Severus followed and sat beside her, wand still trained on the unconscious wizard at their feet. “It was like my curses were doing nothing.” She muttered, rolling her own wand in her now uninjured hand. Severus glanced at her again.

“Neither were mine, you managed to knock him down though.” Severus responded.

“Yes but…” she paused, looking over at Severus and his wand. “He was looking at you mostly and was still deflecting my attacks with ease. Must be out of practice.” She squeezed her wand before returning it to her dominant hand and settling more comfortably into the booth. “He was very focused on you, wasn’t he?”

“Most are when they learn I’m not dead,” the typical drawl of Severus’s voice made nearly made Hermione shiver. “I sure as hell haven’t been called a traitor that many times in one conversation in a while, though.” Hermione chuckled quietly.

The jingling bell at the door got louder as Harry stepped through the broken threshold.

“You two.” It seemed to be almost a question that fell from the Auror’s lips.

“Yes, yes,” Hermione waved her and at her friend in a way that Severus now found oddly familiar. “Severus, give him the details.” Harry called over an apprentice to take notes as Severus began a thorough account of the attack, from the colors of the flashes of light to nearly the exact words spoken by Rubis.

“You have quite the memory, sir,” Harry mentioned after Severus had finished and the Aurors further restrained the body.

“Yes, well I was a spy, for gods’ sakes.” Snape rolled his eyes and Hermione smacked him on the wrist.

“It’s been a long night, Harry, I’m going to go home and—” Hermione began before her thought was interrupted by a sudden scream from Rubis who, like the man from several nights previous, had begun to foam at the mouth and convulse violently.

Everyone present was immediately on their feet and Severus cursed loudly.

“We didn’t have enough time to develop a stop to this!” He rushed forward and began to inspect the man more closely. It didn’t seem that Rubis could get any words out through the severe convulsions, but he still made a frightful wailing noise before his eyes rolled back in his head entirely and his body froze up and then fell limp in the arms of the two Aurors restraining him. Severus cursed again; Hermione hung her head in her hands as she fell back in to her previous seated position. Harry made his way to her and patted her in the shoulder.

“You have the beginnings of a plan, that’s more that I ever have. We will figure this out.” He said, both to her and the team of people standing around them. “We’ll handle cleanup here, you both go home and please get some rest, it’s not worth it to have a half-alive minister in office.” Hermione hummed sullenly at his request and stood, swaying only slightly.

“Busy day tomorrow then,” She stepped out the remnants of the door after thanking Harry and dragging Severus away from the body.

“Yes, it will be,” they stepped over the broken glass and bricks from the front of the shop and Hermione kept a hand on Severus’s sleeve for stability.

“I’m so tired of my nights ending like this.” She looked up towards the sky, but the clouds covered the stars along with the glow of the street lamps. “I’ll see you, Severus, thank you for your help and company this evening.” She turned and reached down to squeeze his hand before apparating away to her flat and spending the evening, much like the ones before, collapsing into bed fully clothed.

Severus, on the other hand, clenched and unclenched his hand after the minister’s goodbye, and turned to walk off into the night for a while, gathering his thoughts and writing down some ideas before returning to his room at the Leaky Cauldron. He had a house to buy tomorrow, and more research to do come morning, so he fell into a fitful sleep, the memory of spells flashing in his mind’s eye.

***

The next several days fell both along the same routine as normal and yet seemed to have a vastly different pattern than usual. Severus put down payment on a house and began moving in to the sound of an old jazzy record player that he moved in first. The minister was held up in her office for most of the two days after the attacks going through intensive meetings with the Board of Directors of Hogwarts and the new university, not to mention the countless Auror meetings about the safety of the general populace. They didn’t see each other again until Friday evening, when Severus, struggling with an extension charm complicated enough for a potions lab, sent his Patronus to the minister’s house inviting her for dinner, research, and some moving help.

Grateful for the distraction, Hermione turned up at Severus’s new door half an hour after the interaction with the glowing doe, and he stood back to allow her to enter, soft music still playing in the background like it had for the past few days.

She draped her uniform jacket over the back of one of the parlor chairs and noted the boxes of takeout on the living room table before she flopped down onto the couch, realizing that she hadn’t eaten since her quick breakfast at nearly five thirty that morning. Her stomach growled.

“You look a mess,” Severus reentered the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“All the men around me are fantastic compliment givers,” Hermione’s eyes rolled and she through one arm over her eyes in protest. “What are we celebrating?” She said, gesturing to the wine glasses in his hand with her other arm.

Severus looked down at the empty glasses. “Absolutely nothing, I just thought you needed a glass of wine.”

“Oh well, in that case, pour away, please,” she sat up slowly, Severus took care not to make it obvious that he noticed the lack of strength in her movements. She slid onto the floor and crossed her legs in front of her, taking the wine glass eagerly from Severus’s offered hand. “I always thought you’d be brilliant at extension charms, at most everything, really.” She sipped as he opened the boxes of what turned out to be Thai food in front of them then too settled on the ground, shedding his outer robe so that he was clad only in his casual button down that was, to Hermione’s surprise, a light blue.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” her reached for the chopsticks and handed her a pair. “I’m perfectly fine at them, nothing extraordinary, but this is particularly difficult since it’s for my lab and there’s a danger to using magic within a magically expanded space.” Hermione hummed and reached for a box. They sat in silence for a moment before she spoke again.

“Seems rather insensitive for us to be chatting about domestic interior design while the world is suffering.”

“Isn’t the world always suffering?” He prodded, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I—I suppose yes. I just wish we could have done more in the restaurant.” She looked into her wine glass again.

“You of all people should know that we cannot help everyone, Minister.”

She sat in silence and nodded glumly. “Show me the space we’re working with then.” The two got up off the floor and continued eating as Severus explained his process and what he wanted. They rolled up their sleeves and got to work, discussing the mundane again, though both were thinking about the next steps for the real project at hand.

They were around three quarters of the way through the process when Hermione piped up again. “What about Legilimency, from what I remember you were a Master Legilimens?” Severus paused his work and turned back around to face her.

“Yes well, I had to be, if I’m honest,” Hermione glanced over at the somehow forlorn look on his face as he remembered what she was sure was not a pleasant time. “If we combine Legilimency with something to do with Horcrux fighting, we might be able to make a dent somehow.”

“I’d like to predict it, too, you know, when and where the next will occur, a bit like the weather.” She pondered out loud. “I’ll reach out to someone else in the Department to start working on the magical energy barometer again, we got sidetracked with that project.” They began to raise their wands for the final bit of the extension and Severus asked her about the other projects she had a hand in. It took very little urging for her to launch into an explanation of a recent charm created to find cancerous cells to take her mind off the situation at hand.

They returned to the parlor for another glass of wine and he observed her tired countenance shift into a more animated one when they began their debate about the ethical use of dragon scales. He had nearly forgotten this Hermione existed, the passionate one that reminded everyone of a lioness in her true right. He wondered, only to himself, what her campaign for Minister must have been like, how she must have faced the anti-muggleborn sentiments and triumphed over whomever her opponent was. He wondered what she would be like when making a discovery in the Department of Mysteries, or what she might say to warn an old Wizengamot member to watch his tone. This Hermione was the one he despised in Hogwarts because he wished he could have had her enthusiasm and persistence.

It was nearly midnight when she stood to leave, and he thanked her for her help. She gave him a side hug before she flooed out, and he sat staring at the embers until he rose to get to bed, the leftover Thai containers still sitting on the living room table with two half empty glasses of wine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school's started, but I do get the urge to continue now and again :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic (that I'm proud of), and I'm so excited to send out the first few chapters into the world. I imagine it as a gritty noir-esque film, though I'm sure it won't really end up that way :)
> 
> The whole thing is plotted but not written, so don't expect ~constant~ updates, this is mostly for fun!


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